Doctors removed live leech lodged in girl's windpipe

Doctors in China have removed a live 5-centimetre leech from the windpipe of a 7-year-old girl.

The girl from the city of Zhaotong in Yunnan province is recovering after being rushed by her parents to Kunming Children's Hospital on Monday having difficulty breathing.

The family usually drink water straight from the tap, her parents said. Their daughter had been suffering throat pain for more than two months.

"We thought she might have caught a cold," the mother said, "but never thought it was a leech or it could stay there so long." The girl must have suffered as leeches grow larger by sucking on blood, a doctor said.